Karnataka: Rain takes a break; water levels in rivers near danger mark

MANGALURU: The rains that battered the three coastal districts took a break on Thursday, but there was occasional widespread moderate to heavy rains associated with strong surface winds and scattered heavy rains over Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts.
The heavy rains in the past two days saw water levels in the major rivers in the district reach near danger levels. The Nethravathi River at Bantwal was just shy of a meter reaching the danger level of 8.5 meters. The Nethravathi River at Uppinangady was also close to danger level at 29 meters, with danger level being 31.5 meters and Kumaradhara River at Uppinangady was at 24 meters, whereas the danger level is 26.5 meters.
The Mangalore Electricity Company (Mescom) was battling to restore power in taluks as Wednesday night and Thursday morning rains accompanied gusty winds downed another 200 electric poles. Mescom officials said only 50 poles needed to be fixed, but power outages continued in many parts of Vittla, Belthangady, Sullia, Puttur and Moodbidri. The affected areas in these areas were deep inside the villages and it would take some time for power restoration, officials added.
Home minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday had a video conference with Udupi Deputy Commissioner advising to release relief to affected people immediately. G Jagadeesha, DC, informed Bommai that 114 houses were completely damaged and two were partially damaged and relief has been disbursed. He said there were 26 villages flood prone villages and there were under the constant watch of officials to shift villagers in case of any eventuality.
In Dakshina Kannada, Belthangady subdivision engineers visited Kukkavu and Kajur areas where the heavy rains have caused water level rise in the rivulets and assess the situation. The officials said traffic was not obstructed in all these areas.
In the Coast, Uttara Kannada received the highest amount of rainfall at 95mm, followed by Dakshina Kannada at 59mm and Udupi at 50mm. The rainfall Uttara Kannada District received in the last 24 hours was 273% more than the average rainfall that the district recorded for the day. Similarly, Udupi district received 43% excess amount of rainfall and for DK, it was 102% excess than the average recorded for the day.
In the last 24 hours till Thursday 8.30am, DK District received an average of 57 mm of rainfall, with Belthangady taluk receiving the highest rainfall at 78.4mm. The next was Sullia with 78mm. Puttur, Mangaluru and Bantwal taluks received 66.5mm, 23mm and 37mm of rainfall respectively.
KSNMDC bulletin stated high waves in the range of 3.5 - 5.7 meters were forecasted till August 7 along the coast of Karnataka from Mangaluru to Karwar. It also stated that strong winds/ squally weather with speed reaching 50-60 kmph was likely to prevail along and off Karnataka coast and advised fishermen not to venture into these areas.